Trump Floats Turning White House Press Room Back Into a Pool
President Donald Trump shared a Truth Social post that floated turning the White House press briefing room back into a swimming pool.
The post circulated over the weekend and was reported Sept. 28 by the New York Post. Details were updated Sept. 29. It centers on the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the small theater-style room in the West Wing where White House officials take questions from reporters.
The post paired two images. One showed the current briefing room under the caption “Fake News Before.” The other showed a gold-decorated indoor pool, apparently generated by artificial intelligence, under the caption “FDR Pool After,” according to Town & Country.
That history is real. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had an indoor pool installed in 1933. President Richard Nixon had it closed in 1970 to create space for reporters, a change that produced the briefing room used today.
The room got its current name in 2000. It honors James Brady, who served as press secretary under President Ronald Reagan. Brady was severely wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan by John Hinckley Jr.
Trump has talked before about leaving the room as it is. He previously said about renovating the press room, “I don’t want to do that” and “I don’t want you to be comfortable.”
For readers catching up, the pool reference needs a quick explainer. The White House press pool is a small rotating group of reporters who follow the president in tight spaces where the full press corps cannot fit.
What makes this stand out is the timing. Since returning to office in 2025, Trump’s press office has changed how that pool works. The administration barred the Associated Press from pool coverage after the wire service did not adopt the name Gulf of America, according to Reuters, and refused to allow CNN to serve as a pool representative. Outlets barred from White House pool coverage covered Trump’s United Nations General Assembly visit on media passes issued by the U.N.
